Oblivious
by Animegirl1129
Summary: Ben and Riley have a confrontation after the meeting with the president at the end of NT2. Slash.


Oblivious

_**Ugh, not so sure I like how this turned out. References 'The Goonies' and probably includes a faulty Spanish translation. Mm... the boys aren't mine. Enjoy!**_

* * *

Once the meeting with the President had ended, and it was clear that they would not be arrested for the plethora of felonies they'd committed over the last few days, Riley headed straight home.

He didn't care about the press, or anything else. Didn't want any part in anything treasure related.

He just wanted to go home and mourn the loss of his second chance at Benjamin Gates. It just wasn't fair.

They'd started out this hunt just the two of them working together. And, like last time, Abigail came prancing in and took over. Ben focused on her, ignoring Riley completely. Here Ben and Abigail had spent the majority of this hunt at each other's throats and now he was fairly certain Ben was moving back in with her.

And to top it off, there was that whole thing at Mount Rushmore gnawing at his brain…

A knock on the door of his flat stirred him from any further self-deprecating thoughts.

It was Ben.

"What do you want?" Riley snarked. "Shouldn't you be off packing your stuff up from your dad's place? I'm sure he's glad to be getting rid of all those boxes." He managed, the bitterness more evident than he would have liked in his voice.

Ben quirked a suspicious eyebrow. "I came to see why you took off."

"Oh, then you noticed? What a change." He snorted, looking less than amused.

"Ouch." Ben recoiled from the verbal blow. "What's this about?"

Riley paced across the room, a hand on his chin when he finally turned to face the other treasure hunter. "Have you ever seen 'The Goonies'?"

Ben nodded, although he was unsure as to what a historically irrelevant 80's flick had to do with this. And why it necessitated such a random topic change. "Yeah, a long time ago. Why?"

"I feel like Mouth."

"Pardon? Why, exactly?"

"Because. He starts out as a pretty main character, you know? Mikey's best friend. By the end of the movie, when they find the treasure, Mikey's turned him into a Spanish-to-English translator who offers a bit of comic relief." Riley ranted.

Ben still looked perplexed. "You… think I'm using you for your tech-savvyness on these treasure hunts?"

Riley nodded. "Yes, in fact, I do."

"That's ridiculous." Ben snorted in disbelief. "I'm not using you."

"Ben, you are! Wilkinson paid more attention to me than you did. The _bad guy who kidnapped your mom and held us at gunpoint_ cared more about my safety than you did."

The elder looked taken aback by such information. "What?"

"Ahh… It's like you get tunnel vision or something once Abigail shows up. Did you even notice me screaming at you when you volunteered to stay behind down there?" Riley pointed out, that memory still terrifyingly fresh in his mind.

"I… ugh… no. I was caught up with Abigail.. And…" The rather non-eloquent reply seemed to drive the younger's point home.

"Did you even know it was me who pulled you through to the other side? Or that…"

Ben stopped him from going on. "You're right. Okay? I know. You're right. I've been totally ignoring you since Abigail showed up again." He sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'm sorry, Riley."

The younger man's sorrow filled expression told Ben that 'sorry' wasn't going to cut it. After a moment, though, the expression turned to one of resignation.

"Look, Ben. I get that you're… in love with her. I'm not mad at you for that. I can't be. It's just…hard, okay?"

"But, I'm not." Ben sighed, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.

Riley paused in his continuous pacing. "Not what?"

Ben paused, gesturing for Riley to join him on the sofa before he answered. "I'm not in love with Abigail. I mean, I love her. But, it's not like it used to be. I don't think it ever can be like that again. Which is why I don't understand why I've been ignoring you." He explained, fidgeting nervously in a very un-Ben-like manner.

"How does you not loving Abigail translate to ignoring me, exactly? I must be missing something here." Riley questioned, still not appeased by the reactions Ben was offering.

Another sigh. "Yeah. You are."

"What are you talking about?" Riley stood again, putting distance between them, but Ben followed him. "I don't… understand."

"I haven't been in any definition of 'in love' with Abigail, not for a while. It's kind of, I dunno, second nature to watch out for her, and to focus on her because that's what I did before. But I don't love her, Riley, I don't." Ben explained, each word getting harder and harder to say as he went.

The aggravation, the frustration, of the past few days was beginning to fade, but that didn't mean the younger man had forgotten what had started this conversation. "What does that have to do with me, Ben?"

Ben took a deep breath. "It has everything to do with you. I… I love you." He lightly gripped Riley's arm while he let that information sink in.

"You… what?"

"For a while now, really." Ben answered. "Probably since before treasure number one, to be honest. But then Abigail came along and just threw everything I thought I knew into complete chaos. And, well, it just seems like you've been this force in my life that I can always count on. Believed in me when you helped Ian and I track down the Charlotte when everyone else said it was insane…"

Riley was floored. "You love me?" Still catching up with the conversation that had taken place since that admission, the young tech-geek found he needed to return to the couch or risk falling over.

"I, uh, yes."

"Wow." Riley was silent for a moment, and then… "Is this a joke?"

"What? No, of course not."

Riley looked hardly convinced. In fact, Ben promptly recognized the anger and betrayal building in his eyes and felt he needed to do something to prove he wasn't just trying to get out of the whole ignoring situation by bringing up something about Riley that had taken him nearly three years to learn (but, that's another story).

Before Riley could start in on how much of an ass Ben was if this was a joke, the elder leaned down and brought their lips together. One hand landed on the back of Riley's head, pulling him closer, and a moment later, the other was an active participant.

"Still think I'm joking? Or, should I say '_toda_v_ía creo que estoy bromeando_?'"

Riley rolled his eyes, but a smile was on his face now. "No, I don't."


End file.
